Thursday, March 31, 2016

Planting trees with Salesforce and other partners

Recently, Earth Charter Indiana had the opportunity to plant a couple dozen trees. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Every year you see people coming away from Earth Day oriented festivals, with saplings in hand. How hard can it be to plant trees?

Not hard to plant them, but it is complicated to plant trees that will actually survive, grow, supply oxygen and sequester carbon. Oh, and be beautiful and provide homes for birds and other species.

It's ... complicated, indeed. Trees do a lot for us; it was nice to return the favor.

We were fortunate to get Jerome Delbridge of Treeo to help us. He managed the project along with Sam Parsons, an ECI board member and member of Salesforce's Earthforce team. Sam brought 50 Salesforce volunteers to help us plant the trees that we hope will grow for generations to come.

Everyone had an essential role. Our friends at Mud Creek Conservancy found a plot of land where owners would agree to maintain — i.e. water and care for — the new trees. Jerome determined what trees would thrive, and also managed the tool situation, along with the great people at Keep Indianapolis Beautiful.

Jeff Ton (center right, paper in left hand) from Mud Creek Conservancy told the assembled about the Conservancy as well as the history of the land and the decision to not sell to developers — but to preserve nature for generations to come.

Wonderful article. Love it when the community comes together to pitch in for the environment. We had something similar put on by our city this past weekend and the turnout was great. Our landscaping service company staff also pitched in and assisted.